Interviews: Interview with GMO-Sol

You're expanding on the PvP with the SD Shield. Can you explain more about the SD Shield?

GMO-Sol:

The SD shield is a brand-new concept that completely changes the face of PvP combat. Everyone knows that while DPS, healing, and mitigation are important parts of PvP, ultimately the fight between any two players is over once one or the other of them has had their health points reduced to zero. In MU, players receive a number of stat points when they level, and may distribute them among their stats as they wish. Just one stat, Vitality, governs the amount of health a player has, and it behooves certain characters of certain builds to somewhat forsake that stat in favor of other stats that help them to be more deadly or more helpful in other ways. Unfortunately, this means that some characters, while they might be great at dealing damage or healing, might not survive long enough in PvP combat to effectively use their class's abilities. It's kind of a raw deal, and it's something players (especially healers) have had to simply put up with in most MMORPGs for a long time.

Well, the SD shield changes all that. This mechanic constructs a barrier around your character that has its own hit points, and these hit points only respond to player-delivered damage (meaning that a mob would deal damage directly to your health points, but a player would have to break through your shield's hit points before getting to your health points). The important part, though, is that this shield generates its hit points based on the sum total of all the stat points your character has accrued and spent. This means that any level 300 character has the same shield as any other level 300 character, regardless of how many points the two characters have spent in buffing their health points. We're confident that this mechanic will pave the way for a more balanced playing field in PvP, allowing players to freely distribute their points according to their wishes rather than feeling "forced" to spend stat points on their health points.

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MMORPG.com:

What fixes can we expect to be included?

GMO-Sol:

The fix we anticipate players being most excited about is the change to our language filter. Since a good portion of our playerbase is Brazilian, we encountered an issue with our language filter mistakenly garbling some words in Portuguese. While we're committed to ensuring that Global MU Online remains a safe and comfortable environment for players of all age brackets, we certainly weren't satisfied with a feature that troubled some of our global players! Season 2 implements a more robust filter that will cleverly discern between actual profanity and global linguistic differences.

MMORPG.com:

Will all the Season 2 content be available to everyone or just the Pay2Play customers? Which parts will be available to the Free2Play players?

GMO-Sol:

For now, we're planning Season 2 to be available to our Pay2Play customers exclusively. Season 2's availability to the Free2Play players is definitely something we're considering for the horizon, although we haven't finalized any dates as of yet.

MMORPG.com:

What can we expect from the new maps and monsters?

GMO-Sol:

The new maps contain some extremely challenging monsters and enemies. On top of that, though, they'll also reveal a good deal of the beautiful and exciting story behind MU, and Kanturu especially. Players will see the results of Kundun's influence on the ruined area in the enemies like the Twin Tail and Persona, included below. Players will have to quickly adapt to new mechanics and fighting styles if they wish to keep their heads above water in these treacherous zones!

MMORPG.com:

Has there been additional low level content been added also?

GMO-Sol:

Indeed! We're happy to announce that much of the new map is accessible to lower-level players. While beginners won't be able to stroll into the new area (it is dangerous, after all), one doesn't have to be at max level (or even close to it) to enjoy Kanturu and discover its secrets.

MMORPG.com:

What are the new armor sets like? How are they special?

GMO-Sol:

The new weapon and armor sets lack the level requirements most MMO players are used to, and substitute stat requirements instead, allowing players to continue to allow their choices to direct their character's evolution, rather than some hard-and-fast game rules. Additionally, these items can be obtained earlier than the previously released sets. We feel that these items will lend themselves to some fun PvP conflict under the new system, as well as help players outfit their characters with competitive gear for PvE encounters.

MMORPG.com:

What kind of new high level content has been added with the new maps?

GMO-Sol:

The new zone contains a story - which we won't spoil completely yet - that explains why the ruins of Kanturu, previously an experimental biotechnology lab left by an extremely advanced society, are deserted and destroyed. The players will rapidly encounter the new zone's secrets and learn of the new challenge, a destroying force called Maya. The Maya encounter is one of the most challenging experiences in the game so far, and requires a group of high-level players to know their roles well and execute their actions with precision and skill, or face destruction.